Photo: Doug Gray
This afternoon the Reds officially sent Elly De La Cruz on a rehab assignment to Triple-A where he joined the Louisville Bats in Georgia to take on the Gwinnett Stripers. He was scheduled to play five innings of the first game of a doubleheader.He’s also expected to play for the Bats on Saturday and Sunday as he works his way back from a hamstring injury.
De La Cruz started the game at shortstop for Louisville. Defensively he wasn’t tested much, catching a pop up early and then fielding a grounder in the 3rd inning. His day came to an end when he fielded a grounder for the final out of the bottom of the 5th.
At the plate he aced the test. In the top of the 1st inning he singled up the middle on a grounder just out of reach of the second baseman. The next inning he did a little better. He got a 1-1 fastball at 97 MPH at the knees on the inside corner. Elly De La Cruz then hit the ball out at 114.1 MPH and it landed 441 feet away for a 2-run home run.
Two innings later Garrett Baumann, who had surrendered the home run earlier in the game, was a bit more careful. The right-handed pitcher would eventually walk De La Cruz in his third plate appearance on the day.